Sir, – Micheál Martin’s defence of UK prime minister Keir Starmer and the wider European response to the war in Iran was both gracefully done and correct.
Even more impressive was the way the Taoiseach set out the positive case for legal immigration and the value migrants have delivered to Ireland. He was saying this to a US president whose electoral success is, in large part, due to making the reverse argument in lurid terms.
Speaking truth to power is important in all political systems. This is particularly the case where the US is concerned. US presidents tend to live in an echo chamber where their instincts and prejudices tend to be reinforced by those around them, whether in the cabinet or the Situation Room.
That’s why the Taoiseach’s comments were not only right, but necessary – and they should be acknowledged as such. – Yours, etc,
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TOM KELLY,
(Official Spokesman, Downing Street, 2001-2007)
Coleraine.
